1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device to dispense clips for clipping plants or vines to a trellis wire.
2. Description of Related Art
In the growing of plants with vines or stems, it is desirable to support the vines or stems, so as to maximize the growth potential of the plants. There exists equipment for manual attachment of plants to a trellis wire which involves multiple steps or operations. These multiple steps or operations are time consuming.
It is also necessary to remove the clip or other means of attachment after a certain growth has occurred or time has passed. Many of the existing forms of manual attachment require labor-intensive and costly procedures to remove the attachment.
Russian Patent No. 2,048,064 discloses a device designed to overcome these problems with the prior methods of attaching a vine or stem to a trellis wire. Referring to FIGS. 11 and 12, Russian Patent No. 2,048,064 discloses a device consisting of body 102, handle 105, dispenser 106 which holds stack of clips 103, spring 114 urging the stack of clips toward the top of the dispenser, exit grooves 118 located at the top of the dispenser adjacent the uppermost clip of the stack of clips, and pusher 110 for pushing the uppermost clip through exit grooves 118 and out of the device. Arm 108 attached to handle 105 meshes with notch 109 in pusher 110 so that when handle 105 is depressed, arm 108 pushes pusher 110 by way of notch 109 and moves pusher 110 toward exit grooves 118. In moving toward exit grooves 118, pusher 110 contacts the end of the uppermost clip of the stack of clips and pushes the clip out of exit grooves 118.
The structure of the device of the Russian patent creates a problem in that after a clip has been dispensed, the new uppermost clip is pushed against the bottom side of pusher 110 by spring 114 which urges the stack of clips upward, thus creating a frictional force between the uppermost clip and pusher 110. This frictional force prevents pusher 110 from smoothly and easily retracting to its initial position ready to dispense another clip.